Chocolate Orange
by Ragna
Summary: Fred & Wesley trade some special gifts.


TITLE: Chocolate Orange  
AUTHOR: Ragna (RaverRagna@excite.com)  
RATING: G  
CLASSIFICATION: Wesley/Fred  
SUMMARY: Fred & Wesley trade some special gifts.  
SPOILERS: Set after "Billy."  
DISTRIBUTION: Any sites with my fic up; you all have unspoken permission. I write it, you can post it. Everyone else just keep my name on it and let me know.  
PREVIOUS PARTS/ARCHIVED AT: http://www.envy.nu/allthepain/index.html  
DISCLAIMER: If you don't recognize it, chances are it's my own creation. If you do, Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Kazui Sandollar, FOX and the WB own it or them. Various friends of mine are holding characters hostage. You may see them by appointment only.  
FEEDBACK: Sorry I'm not home right now I'm walking in the spiderwebs so leave a message and I'll call you back...in other words, I want it. Don't care if it's onlist or not, but I prefer offlist since I have quite a few lists on No Mail.  
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Answer to Improv #31 (bittersweet -- crack -- candle -- ring). And...I was in the mood for some Christmas fluff.  
~*~*~  
She was about to crack open another of those chocolate oranges when it hit her.  
  
She looked at the chocolate, it's bittersweet taste now an afterthought. She looked at the letter she'd written and rewritten that was going to be his holiday card, past copies crumpled up by the trash can. It was supposed to be so sweet, all of it...just for him.  
  
Fred sighed, looking around. She knew the day he apologized to her that he liked her. It was that obvious on his face. He really hadn't meant to hurt her and she knew it. But Wesley just couldn't come out and say all of that.  
  
Poking her head out of the room, she walked to the end of the hall. Where was Wesley?  
  
It was Cordelia's laughter she noticed next. And then her voice. And then her words.  
  
"Oh, Wesley! What a beautiful ring! For me?"  
  
"Oh, but of course," he replied, and Fred could see him bow to her.  
  
Tears flooded her eyes and she ran back to her room, slamming the door behind her. She thought he like her. She was wrong, just as she had been about everything else...  
  
The knock on the door was louder than it had originally been when Fred's crying slowed. She wiped away the last tear, pushed herself off the floor where she'd slid by her bed and walked to the door, opening it carefully.  
  
"Fred, are you all right?" Wesley asked.  
  
"I...I'm fine," she replied. "Nothing better."  
  
Wesley looked down. "I wanted to get you something. For Christmas. I thought you and Cordelia might appreciate jewelry." He smiled slightly. "It isn't much, seeing that we don't have many paying customers anymore. But I saw it and I thought you'd like it."  
  
He handed her a small box. It was too big for a ring, too big for a bracelet. She opened it up and saw a beautiful silver star, with a small white stone in the top point. In the light from the candles in her room, it gleamed and glittered.  
  
"You didn't have one. A necklace, I mean." He cleared his throat. Fred continued to stare at the necklace. "Well, then. I suppose I'll be off balancing the books."  
  
She looked up. "Hey, Wesley?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Want to share a chocolate orange?"  
  
He smiled at her, something close to worry and resembling guilt leaving his face for the first time in weeks. "Yes, yes I think I'd like that very much."  
  
Fred stood back, letting him enter. "I got you a present too." She pulled out the box, handing it to him. "Open it."  
  
"Are you sure? It's only Christmas Eve, and..."  
  
"I have another gift for you later," she said. "I didn't know how many you were going to get, so I got you two, and I wanted to give this one to you tonight. Open it."  
  
Wesley unwrapped the gift warp, and opened the box. It was a large box containing only a note and his own chocolate orange. He picked the note up and read it once, then read it again. "I really meant it," he said quietly after the second time reading the note.  
  
"I know you did. It wasn't your fault, Wesley. Never thought it was." She smiled, handing him a piece of her chocolate orange. "But that's done with. Now...where do we go from here?"  
  
Wesley took the chocolate orange of his from it's place in the box and broke it, feeling the slices separate. He peeled back the foil and handed a slice to Fred. "We celebrate Christmas Eve together, for a start."  
  
Fred nodded, biting into her piece of chocolate. "Well, then, Merry Christmas Eve."  
  
Wesley smiled, popping a piece of chocolate into his own mouth. "Merry Christmas Eve to you, too."   



End file.
